The handling of waste excrement generated through animal farming has been a persistent problem. Traditionally, waste excrement has been used as a crop fertilizer. The traditional farmer gathers concentrations of excrement waste from animal barns, feeding stations and the like and typically spreads such on fields used for growing food for the animals to consume. Thus, in the traditional sense of ecologically balanced animal farming, animal waste excrement is allowed to decay in the field, various elements of the decay such as unstable phosphorus and nitrogenous products may be taken up by growing crop plants and the crop plants are harvested for food to be eaten by the animals in an efficient recycle of elements which occurs over and over again to the benefit of all and perceived detriment of none.
Modern animal farming practices, particularly modern feedlot and dairy farming practices, have detrimentally effected the ecological balance of traditional animal farming. The efficiencies of animal farming have changed and modern techniques concentrate larger numbers of animals in smaller areas leaving larger amounts of waste excrement to be managed by distribution to smaller land areas. The larger amounts of food required by the larger number of animals and intense feeding practices of modern animal farming using supplemental cattle feed containing concentrations of phosphorus and nitrogen, produces larger amounts of manure which contain phosphorus and nitrogen levels which cannot be assimilated by traditional field farming methods. Fields on which such manure has been spread become rich in unstabilized phosphorus, nitrogen and potassium, beyond what is appropriate to sustain flourishing field plant life, creating a pollution hazard to ground and surface water and repugnant odor problems.
Rain, falling on the phosphorus and nitrogen rich soil carry unstabilized nitrogen, phosphorus and other elements garnered from the waste excrement from the soil. With the flow of water through drainage ditches, groundwater currents and the like eventually, fresh water aquifers and other fresh water sources are found to be at hazardously high phosphorus, potassium and nitrogen levels creating environmental problems.
The problem of fresh water pollution by phosphorus and nitrogen content may be exacerbated by an accompanying concentration of toxic materials. Concentrations of toxic materials, which may have been used as insecticides or herbicides, including metals and the like, may be typically part of the animal food intake and though not generally harmful to the animal or the animal product being farmed, end up in the animal excrement which is distributed to the field and eventually become concentrated in the field, permeate the soil and are carried to surface waters and fresh water aquifers by rain water and the like. Thus, the toxic materials are eventually carried along with phosphorus, nitrogen and metals to local surface waters and fresh water aquifers and the like spreading through the local environment and further destabilizing the local ecosystem.
Various solutions have been proposed to solve the ecological problem posed by modern animal farming, but have been judged to be incomplete or so specialized that they only serve to change or postpone the problem.
For example, it has been proposed to isolate manure in depositories secure from rain water run-off until the decaying process has produced a concentrated desirable humus which then can be commercially sold or otherwise distributed to non-impacted localities. Such proposal presents intense odor problems, requires constant manpower to accomplish and significant construction to resolve the migration problem caused by rain washing on exposed manure containing unstabilized phosphorus, nitrogen and postassium.
The present invention addresses the problems associated with animal waste excrement handling by providing a means to resolve ecological problems associated with the local migration of unstabilized phosphorus and nitrogen, through the efficient bioconversion of waste excrement materials into a stable, economically and/or ecologically beneficial humus material.
Thus, it is an object of the invention to provide an ecologically suitable means for managing animal waste excrement.
It is another object to provide an improved process for the biological transformation of animal wastes, toxins or other waste materials into economically suitable materials.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a biologically active, and/or a nutrient-rich, organic humus from animal waste excrement.
These and other objects will be apparent from the following description of the invention.